Getting Ready to Ramble

Pat, a good friend who always asks the most insightful questions, asked me about how I get ready for this next trip - do I need to get shots? Yes indeed - and the answer to every traveler's needs in this department is your local travel clinic. In Santa Fe it is Laurie Sandman at Passport Health. You tell her the countries that you will be visiting and she thoroughly researches the areas and prepares you with innoculations, medicines to take with, and general tips for staying healthy.
Your important travel document is your "Little Yellow Book" which you present on demand at various borders to prove that you have the shots you need before entering the country. Thank goodness almost all the shots I needed (Hepatitus A/B, Polio, Tetanus & Diptheria, Typhoid, and Yellow Fever) were still good from my last trip around the world in 2005.
Malaria is an ongoing concern in the countries I will visit and it looks like I'll be taking malaria tablets once a day for the full 7 months. You really can't immunize against all of the diseases carried by insects in the countries I'll visit, so prevention is huge, including insect repellent, treating your clothes in a chemical repellent, and using a mosquito net where needed.
Laurie was great . She presented me with a comprehensive guide to each of the 30+ countries I hope to visit and a summary of potential health issues in each. I was also able to buy malaria tablets, rehydration tablets, and insect repellent treatment for clothes at quite a discount.
Thanks to Laurie, I'm almost ready to ramble again. Next up - obtaining visas for countries that require them, checking out government security warnings for each country, arranging for the trips within each country, and packing up the house to put everything in storage - all within the next 2 months. Somehow it will all get done.....